Menu

We’re hiring! Head of Academic Outreach

About Kudos

An exciting opportunity to join a small but rapidly expanding team focused on providing an innovative online service for academic researchers, research groups, institutions, publishers, societies and funders. Kudos provides tools for planning and managing research dissemination to accelerate and maximize reach and impact.This multi-award-winning service has a global client base, including major publishers and institutions (such as Taylor & Francis, Wiley, SAGE, the Universities of Manchester, Helsinki, Stockholm and ETH Zürich), and 200,000 researchers and academics.

About this role

This is an exciting opportunity to join the Kudos senior management team. This new role will help us build on and strengthen our relationships with research funders and institutions, all over the world. You will be responsible for identifying and developing our relationships with potential partners and customers, and for deepening our understanding of researchers’ needs in relation to dissemination, engagement and impact, both as individuals, and as members / leaders of research groups and departments. You will ensure that our services evolve in close alignment with these needs, and be the point person for Kudos within the research community, working closely alongside our founders and management team to engage with research funders, national consortia and other large research groups. You will report to our Executive Director, and be based in the main Kudos offices in Wheatley, Oxford. Evening / weekend work and travel may be required on occasion.

About you

You will have a strong background in the research sector, with connections in universities across the UK, and ideally internationally too. You will be a respected and active member of the academic community, familiar with the challenges of winning funding and optimizing impact. You will be a natural leader, with the credibility to influence at high levels, comfortable in a fast-changing environment, with strategic foresight and excellent communication and relationship skills.

Job Purpose

Contributing to the development and management of the organization’s vision, strategic direction and culture

Building a robust network of relationships with researchers, research funders, research councils, national consortia and other large research groups

Nurturing awareness of and engagement with Kudos among this community

Understanding the dissemination goals and needs of this community, and guiding development of Kudos’ features, to meet these needs

Educating the community on best practice relating to the effective dissemination of research, and on how our services can assist them with their outreach goals

Leading a program of pilots, across the UK initially, for our evolving dissemination planning and management service

Working closely with a sales manager to identify potential pilot partners and customers

Recruiting and leading a growing team of account managers and project managers

Collating feedback at a high level to help us in our ongoing product development

Qualifications

Essential

Knowledge of the research sector, preferably within a senior role in an HE institution or funder

Passion for scholarly communications, research evaluation, and the changes taking place in these areas

Experience managing a team – defining targets, measuring progress, and supporting individuals’ professional development

Excellent verbal and written communications skills, including explaining complex concepts simply and compellingly

Computer and web literacy including Word, PowerPoint and Excel

Ability to travel

Desirable

Project management experience

Postgraduate research qualifications and experience

Benefits

Competitive salary

25 days’ annual leave

Company pension plan

Childcare vouchers

Cycle to Work scheme

Based in beautiful Oxfordshire, close to Oxford and the M40

Good public transport links and easy parking

Monthly pizza lunches

Free fruit

Application

To apply, please send your CV together with a covering letter outlining why you’re right for this role, to: